Snow Way Out!
by CuteMew
Summary: The eppy from Misty's POV, has a hint of AAMR in it, not really tho... Maybe I should add a song to it to make it a songfic...? R+R please! And oh yeah, I just moved it to the romance section coz of the half-baked AAMRN theme...


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Snow Way Out!

By CuteMew

A/N: This fic was based on one of the holiday special episodes called "Snow Way Out!" but from Misty's POV instead of Ash's ;-)

Disclaimer: All that junk about not suing me, characters all belong to whoever owns all that pokemon stuff…umm WB, 4Kids, Satoshi Tajiri, etc., etc.

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It was a normal day on our pokemon journey, when we reached a fork in the road. Brock got out his map like a good navigator would, but stupid Ash just had to go and point randomly at the right fork and say, "I say let's go that way!" Brock even warned him that that road led up a mountain, but would he listen? Nooo… Mr. Big Shot Pokemon Master just *had* to be stubborn and continue on his way…

As we got to the foot of the mountain, I looked up and saw not just a little hill, but a towering mountain covered in snow. "We'll need a ski lift to get up that thing!" I wailed. I saw Ash look a little nervous when he looked up at the snow-covered mountain, but he put on a brave face and continued on. We followed after him, of course, but after walking in the snow for an hour, I was getting cold and my feet were numb. I covered up in a blanket. I saw that Brock had done the same, but Ash was just wearing his short-sleeved jacket. I wanted to offer him my own blanket, but I remembered that _he_ was the one who made us come up this way in the first place. I grumbled and continued walking, complaining the entire time of how cold and tired I was.

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We got really lost after a while, and while we were trying to find the trail, it started snowing. I looked up at the darkened sky and remarked, "It was clear just a while ago…" As the snow gathered force and fell down in heavier and heavier drifts, the wind started blowing stronger too. It was like being in a blizzard. The snow kept falling more and more heavily, and it kept getting darker and darker. It was getting really hard to see more than five feet ahead of us, so we stopped. Ash wanted to keep looking for the trail, but Brock warned us how dangerous it was to walk around in a snowstorm in the dark, so we decided on building a snow cave to stay in to let the storm blow over. We were just about to go and find a good place to build a snow cave when a sudden wind knocked Ash over, and Pikachu was swept right out of his arms. Little Pikachu was blown away, tumbling across the snow. As soon as Ash got up he ran out after it, yelling, "Pikachu!"

"Wait!" I called out after him, my voice lost to the howling wind. I was about to run after him, but Brock pulled me back and said, "No. You'll get lost out there. Come on, let's go find a place to dig a snow cave." He turned and I followed him. As I turned to look back over my shoulder, I saw that Ash had disappeared into the whiteness of oblivion. _He's just so brave… I guess he cares about his pikachu a lot…_I thought.

****

I trudged on behind Brock for a while, and soon we came to a large pile of snow. Brock took out one of his pokeballs. "Onix, go!" When the giant rock pokemon came out of its pokeball, Brock said, "Dig a snowcave deep into the ground, Onix!" Onix drilled its large head straight into the snow and kept going deeper and deeper. After a short time, Onix came out and Brock returned it into its pokeball. We descended into the underground snowcave with a candle that Brock had lit with Vulpix.

When we finally got to the bottom of the cave, I was shocked to find it nice and warm. I looked around the dimly lit cavern and saw small round pools that I suddenly realized were hot springs. Steam rose from them in small puffs. I found myself wanting to dip myself into the water and just relax. I wanted to let go of all of my thoughts and worries, to be oblivious to all that was going on. But I knew I couldn't.

Brock had noticed the hot springs too. "Hey, we're pretty lucky, we don't have to spend the night in the cold! Our pokemon would probably like to enjoy the hot springs too..." He released his pokeballs and one by one his pokemon came out. When his onix came out he patted it and said, "Nice work, onix. Now we can all relax while we wait for the storm to blow over." He looked over at me. "Aren't you gonna release your pokemon too?"

I thought about it, and said, "No, I think my water pokemon would prefer much cooler water..." I just sighed and sat down on a rock, with my head in my hands. Thankfully Brock knew enough not to bother me and went about his own business.

So many thoughts went through my mind. They became a blur and I wanted to scream, but I didn't.

Suddenly Brock tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey Misty, are you okay?"

"I'm fine", I told him. But I wasn't. How could I be, when I had no idea where Ash was, or whether or not he was even alive? "Are you hungry?" he said, "I have dinner ready."

As I looked around, I saw that he had returned his pokemon to his pokeballs, and had made a small fire where food was heating. It turned out that our dinner was some cans of food that Brock had in his backpack. He opened up the cans and handed me one. By this time I was beginning to feel dizzy, lightheaded and a little sick. My head whirled, but I tried to shake it off. I accepted the can from Brock. I pushed its contents around with a fork.

"Come on, Misty, eat something, it'll help you keep up your strength." I nodded and tried to smile. I lifted my fork up to my mouth and shakily took a bite. The food stuck in my throat when I tried to swallow it. All of a sudden, I lurched and threw up.

I blushed furiously, embarrassed. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" I started sobbing. "Here, I'll clean it up…" When I stood up, though, everything started spinning, and then it all went black.

****

I felt cool water splashed onto my face. Startled, I sat straight up and opened my eyes. I saw Brock looking at me, concerned, and suddenly remembered where I was.

"What happened?" I asked. 

"You threw up," Brock replied, "and then you fainted. Do you feel sick or something?" He leaned over and felt my forehead. "Your temperature feels fine. A little warm perhaps, but that's probably because you threw up… And you look awfully pale."

"I'm fine, ok? Just… lay off." Then I started crying all over again. _I'm not fine. I feel terrible… my best friend might be *dead*! I'd never get to see him again if he was. He wouldn't live up to his dream, we wouldn't have anymore adventures… He might be dead by now… I wish we didn't go this way…_ Fresh tears dripped down my cheeks and I tasted salt on my lips. _We were always so close, if I lose him, I'll lose part of myself as well._

"Misty! Just tell me, what's the matter? Is it Ash?" Brock said, his face full of concern.

"Yes! Oh Brock, I'm just so worried, what if he froze to death in the snow? What if he was attacked by wild pokemon? What if he got lost and fell off a cliff? What if he's hurt?" I started sobbing again, and Brock patted me on the back. "And how can you not care? Here we are, in a nice, safe, warm cave, while we have no idea what happened to one of our *best* friends?"

"Of course I care, Misty… I just don't express it the way you do."

I didn't understand, but I accepted that Brock wasn't as cold as he seemed sometimes… "But right now, we can't do anything about it. The best thing to do is to get some rest so we can start searching early tomorrow morning," said Brock.

"Okay," I agreed. We both got into our sleeping bags. Brock fell asleep after a short time, but I stayed awake. I couldn't sleep with all that was on my mind. _Why am I caring so much anyway? Oh, just face it… love… I should have said something… it might be too late now… oh, I hope nothing's happened to him… he's my best friend, nothing could ever replace him…_

I finally realized how tired I was, and the warm, steamy air in the cave soon lulled me to sleep. 

****

When I awoke the next morning, I saw that Brock had just gotten up and had onix ready to help us start searching. We sat on onix's back and got a ride back up to the surface. I looked around once we got to the opening. Everything was covered in a thick white frosting. When I looked to my right, what I saw surprised me.

"Look, Brock, Team Rocket's balloon!" I pointed.

"You're right, that's it! I'm sure it'll be helpful later on…" Brock hopped off and pulled the deflated Meowth head onto onix's back. Onix slid out through the snow. We called Ash's name over and over again. Soon my voice became hoarse from all the yelling, so I rested my head against onix's cold stone back.

A lone teardrop made its way out of the corner of my eye. Then another fell. And another. I had given up… we had been searching for hours in the endless whiteness.

"Hey, you guys!" A yell from nearby startled both Brock and me. It was Ash! We both turned to where the sound came from, and there he was, standing with all his pokemon at his side. Brock jumped down and welcomed Ash back. I just sat on onix's back and happily wiped the tears from my cheek.

All the pokemon (except for Ash's pikachu, of course) were returned to their pokeballs. We all walked over Team Rocket's balloon.

"How did you survive the storm?" I asked.

"We dug a snow cave, just like Brock said!" replied Ash. Huh. Lucky for him, he isn't always so dense. Lucky for me also. If he hadn't thought of making a cave he might not have made in the subzero temperatures.

"Ha! Lucky for us we didn't have freeze in the one we dug!" Brock said.

"Yeah, onix dug us into an underground hot spring! You wouldn't believe how nice and comfy it was!" I said quickly, trying to mask my happiness of having Ash back among us.

"Waa! Well, we sure weren't "nice and comfy"!" Ash exclaimed. Poor little Ash, it must have been really cold in his snow cave, I hope he didn't have too hard a time making it through the night…

We flew off into the sky in Team Rocket's balloon, which was powered courtesy of Brock's vulpix. _Maybe I should have said something to Ash… Oh well. Maybe next time I'll tell him._ I smiled to myself as I looked fondly at him. I turned my head and looked at the horizon. Not far ahead was a town. "Look, we made it!" 

Please review this below, thanks! -CuteMew


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